Ed Sheeran fans warned on dodgy tickets amid calls for action
HUNDREDS of disappointed concertgoers could be denied entry to this week’s two Ed Sheeran concerts in Brisbane because they have unknowingly bought invalid tickets.
Confidential
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QUEENSLAND is demanding urgent national action to crack down on shonky scalpers ripping off music and sports fans with overpriced or fake tickets to major events.
It comes as the state’s leading venue operator warns that hundreds of disappointed concertgoers could be denied entry to this week’s two Ed Sheeran shows in Brisbane because they have unknowingly bought invalid tickets.
The industry wants sweeping reforms to protect consumers, including outlawing the use of automated bots that scoop up huge numbers of newly released tickets, often for crime syndicates, using lists of stolen credit card numbers.
Other measures sought include orders blocking the websites of overseas-based commercial operators such as Viagogo, which reap lucrative commissions – often 25 per cent or more – from the resale of tickets at massive mark-ups from the original value.
And resellers based in Australia may have to be licensed in future, with tough penalties for breaking rules on increasing prices for second-hand tickets.
Last year, the federal Treasury developed an options paper on the issue, and a meeting with all state and territory consumer affairs ministers is planned, with the date yet to be set.
A Queensland Government spokesman said the problem had to be tackled at a national level and had “been allowed to fester for far too long”.
“We need the Turnbull Government to get on board, call the ministerial roundtable, and make tackling the rip-offs and dodgy practices of ticket resellers an urgent priority,” he said.
Rod Pilbeam, chief operating officer of AEG Ogden, which manages more than 20 stadiums and arenas in Australia and the Asia-Pacific, including Suncorp and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, said: “This scalping is just pure greed.
“This is about protecting innocent people from being ripped off. This is about stopping stealing from the public.”
More than 100 tickets were rejected by staff at Bruno Mars’ two Brisbane Entertainment Centre shows last week.
The victims included fans who had paid $500 for tickets originally priced at $183 that had been copied and resold many times.
With a combined 100,000 audience for Sheeran’s shows at Suncorp Stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday, organisers are concerned.
A 33-year-old Underwood man was charged on Friday with fraud over the sale of non-existent tickets to the Sheeran concerts.
Police allege there could be dozens of victims.
But industry peak body Live Performance Australia chief Evelyn Richardson said the greater threat was posed by “sophisticated and well-planned” offshore scams.
Industry has lobbied the Government to tackle problems that risked undermining confidence in the online ticketing process.
It is illegal to resell tickets for more than 10 per cent above the original price at Stadiums Queensland venues, including Suncorp, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, the Gabba, Metricon, Cbus Super Stadium and the 1300 SMILES Stadium.
Police have not charged anyone with scalping since 2011 and the laws, targeted at individuals, have been outdated by the explosion in digital operations.
The Queensland Office of Fair Trading has received 140 complaints about Swiss online ticket reseller Viagogo since January last year.
“Viagogo’s conduct to date shows they have little interest in resolving consumer complaints,” a Palaszczuk Government spokesman said.
Viagogo directed The Sunday Mail to the FAQ section of its website but refused to answer questions.
Case study 1
REX Davison got a shock as he pressed the “purchase’’ button for tickets to one of Adele’s Brisbane concerts last year on resale site Viagogo.
A message popped up telling him he’d just spent $1040 on the four tickets – almost twice the $560 he thought he was paying.
“I was horrified as I was unable to cancel the order and Viagogo did not have any email or phone contacts on their website to speak to them,” the Gold Coast man said.
Things got worse when Mr Davison (pictured below) and three friends, who had come from New Zealand, arrived at The Gabba for the show, as they were refused entry.
“The staff said, ‘Your tickets are a rip-off. They have been bought and resold. All those tickets have been cancelled.’ ”
On his smartphone, Mr Davison bought more tickets from official seller Ticketmaster for $1247. His daughter later pointed him to a “Victims of Viagogo” Facebook page, where there were complaints from hundreds of people in different countries.
He received a call a few days later from a Viagogo staff member in Ireland who promised him a refund and a credit as compensation. He received a refund of the $1040 he paid Viagogo, but no compensation.
He was still left almost $700 out of pocket on the amount he originally thought he was paying online. “I would never use (Viagogo) again – never, no. And I would warn anyone to never buy anything from them. It’s just not worth the trouble. I can’t believe they are still getting away with it.”
Case study 2
DISAPPOINTED Brisbane concertgoers were forced to fork out hundreds of dollars at the gate last week after buying fake Bruno Mars tickets.
Fan Jiaming Zeng bought two tickets in August for $400 through resale site Viagogo, but was turned away from Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Wednesday after they were found to be fake.
Ms Zeng and friend Wendy Chen were “annoyed and upset,” forced to spend $300 to replace them. When the barcodes didn’t scan properly at the gate, they were told to visit the box office to reprint the tickets. But staff flagged a problem — the reprinted tickets showed the original buyer’s name, and original price, $101.
When Ms Zeng bought the tickets, they were advertised for $199 and were transferred into her name. It appeared that the tickets had been resold to several people and had already been scanned at the venue.
“The lady said, unfortunately, she couldn’t give us the ticket unless we were that person (on the ticket),” Ms Chen said. “We showed her the website where we bought it and she said there had been tonnes of people tonight who had bought tickets from that website.”
Imerrah Kalolo and Monica Tuialii were also forced to pay an additional $183 each after they bought two fake tickets for $460 from Ticketmaster Resale last month.
After waiting in line for two hours, they were questioned by security at the door and told to go to the box office to get a reprint.
“That’s when we started to realise something was wrong,” Ms Kalolo said. “They (the box office) said ‘You don’t have a ticket ... the ticket you have is a fake ticket’.’’
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